When it comes to rivalries in the Big Ten, some get more press than others. Ohio State and Michigan get most of the ink, followed possibly by Michigan MSU. Illinois of course has rivalries with Iowa and Northwestern, and some public success against Ohio State. But ask any Illinois fan who they want to beat most in football, and the answer will invariably be Michigan. I must admit that this would be considered your typical one sided rivalry, as I showed yesterday I can count on one hand the number of wins Illinois has had against Michigan in the last 25 years. Of course many teams have hada similar lack of success against the Wolverines in that time span, and the hatred for them throughtout the Big 10 is a testament to their consistent success over the years.That said, the people of the University of Illinois hate the Michigan Wolverines. Part of it is the decade long droughts between wins like the most recent one, and the epic one throughout the 70's into the 80's. Part of it is the 1989 Final Four run that was cut short by Michigan (when they were probably paying their players.)
The most fondly remembered games by the old timers like Loren Tate are always the few Michigan wins.
Saturday will be remembered among those past wins, and will more than likely catapult Juice Williams into the relm of Kitner and Red Grange as far as great performances against Michigan are concerned. Juice played the game that on Zook said he could and would play when he brought his crown jewel of a recruit into Champaign 3 years ago. On Saturday against Michigan, Juice threw for 310 yards and 2 touchdowns, he also ran for 121 yards and 2 touchdowns, adding up to well over 400 total yards and 4 TDs. Absolutley beefy stats no matter who you are playing. The most important stats of the day however would have to be 13/26 and NO INT's. The 50% completion percentage would seem to suggest that Juice was highly innaccurate, but that is not the case. Juice showed poise in the pocket and for the first time in my memory, made all of his reads and threw the ball away when no play was there to be made. In the past if his 1 or 2 options were not open Juice would either charge forward to try and make a play with his legs or force it into coverage in desperation. When the offensive line gives Juice time to work with (which he had in spades on saturday) Juice is now an equal threat passing as he is running.
The offense worked to perfection on saturday, all sorts of yards were riddled off, Benn and Cumberland were able to show their amazing speed and play making abilities, and the young stable of running backs Jason Ford and Mikel LeShoure showed that the best may yet be to come for this Illinois offense. But outside of Juice, the star on Saturday was Daniel Dufrene who himself racked up 100 all purpose yards and a touchdown. The great screen pass to Dufrene (party of 6) showed his top notch speed and open field ability. After last week's injury and struggles it is fantastic to see #22 step out from behind the shadow of a first round draft pick. Maybe I was wrong, maybe he is Rashard Mendenhall.
Credit for the win must also go to the Illini defense who after a first quarter that seemed to pick up right where they left off in Happy Valley allowing 2 TDs on the first two Michigan possesions. But from then on the defense turned up the heat, and blitzed like madmen. Britt Miller has been the guy to get blamed for many of the defensive shortcomings in recent weeks but has been getting better an better as the games have progressed. In Ann Arbor Britt showed that progress and that he is a dangerous weapon when sent on the blitz. How dangerous? Miller recorded sacks on back to back plays in the fourth quarter, when he is on, he is on, and leads the Big Ten in tackles now for good reason.
All in all its just nice to say we beat Michigan. Not just beat but pummeled and held an offensive clinic in the spread option. I know Michigan is bad this year, but I don't care, we were bad in most of the years that they beat us, and I am sure it didn't stop them from gloating. RichRod I am sure will get his system and program going again, and the beat downs on Illinois teams will one day return. But they can't take yesterday away from anyone on this team, or any of the fans.
1 comments:
This is why I hate Michigan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyG_GBHSTsY
3 blown calls on 2 plays that cost us dearly. (On the first fumble, not only was he down before the fumble (helmet = down and elbow = down and we had both) but he also clearly recovered the "fumble" and should have been down by contact after recovering it before the scUM players ripped it out of his hands.)
I remember that was the first Illini game I ever watched and it has made me like Illinois, and hate Michigan ever since.
I also hate Michigan because they are the one Big Ten school that competes with us in our pride - engineering. For that same reason, I hate Purdue. Uninformed people automatically believe Purdue to be an elite engineering school and better than us us despite us clearly having the edge in almost every field.
End of Rant
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